Protests In Jammu Over Admission Of Muslim Student In Mata Vaishno Devi Medical College

Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) worker Rajinder Kumar has been protesting for the past one week against the decision of the Jammu and Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examination (JKBOPEE) to admit Muslim students to the medical college run by the Hindu board of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi in the Katra area of Jammu. 

Kumar is miffed with the government for "hurting" the sentiments of the Hindus by allowing Muslims to pursue education at the college, which is largely run from the donations of the pilgrims who visit the cave shrine of Vaishno Devi in  Katra.

We oppose Muslims studying at this Hindu-funded institute. VHP leads protests as part of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti, fighting to cancel the admissions,” he says.

Across Jammu province, several Hindu groups, including the members of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti (SMVDSS), have been protesting, seeking that the admissions of Muslim students be scrapped. The members of SMVDSS, a group of about 60 Hindu outfits, have hit the streets and threatened to intensify their stir if the authorities fail to fulfil their demand. Earlier in October, in its admission for the first batch of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME), 42 students from the Muslim community were admitted to the medical college, against 50 vacancies at the institute.

This has sparked a political row with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who has said that merit should be a criterion for admissions rather than students' religious identity. The ruling National Conference has said that the SMVDIME was receiving government funding, which prevented admissions there on religious lines.

Despite protests, authorities said they were bound to admit students to medical colleges in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory solely on merit, with candidate choice also a criterion for seat allotment.

Chairperson of JKBOPEE, Minu Mahajan, says the board has no mandate to shift students to other medical colleges. 

“We can’t shift the students of the SMVDIME to other medical colleges in the Union Territory. The exam for the medical colleges is conducted by the National Testing Agency, and during counselling, we only allot the students to the different medical colleges. It is the merit and the choice expressed by a student on the basis of which the admissions are made.”

Executive Director of SMVDIME, Dr Yashpal Sharma, says that the students have started studies at the medical college and only three have dropped out. “We have started the classes and have asked the BOPEE to fill three vacancies,” he says. The SMVDIME and JKBOPEE officials, however, say that three vacancies have been created as the students may have been admitted to other medical colleges outside the UT.

However, the BJP and other Hindu groups have demanded scrapping the MBBS admission list of SMVDIME. The BJP has also submitted a memorandum to J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, asking that admissions at SMVDIME be limited to Hindu students and, if possible, handled by the National Medical Commission (NMC). Mahajan, however, notes that the NMC conducts counselling for only 15 per cent of government medical college vacancies, while SMVDIME is a private college.

BJP MLA and senior party leader Devinder Kumar Manyal says the party has asked the LG to ensure that students are shifted to other medical colleges in the UT.

“Hindus, not only from within the country, but also from outside India, are donating money to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, and it is on that money that the medical college is being run. This issue deals with our faith. We believe the Muslim students may also not be comfortable studying at the institute, so the list should be scrapped. The government can shift the Hindu students from other medical colleges to replace Muslims.”

However, student organisations have sought merit as the admission criterion for colleges.

Nasir Khuehami, national convenor of J&K Students Association (JKSA), says that if religious affinity were made a basis for admissions, Muslims would also seek the same policy at educational institutions run by them. 

“There are several institutions across the country which are run by Muslim bodies where students from other communities also receive education. If religion is made a criterion, then the people would start asking why doesn’t the same rule follow for admission at institutions like the Islamic University of Science and  Technology  (IUST) and Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGBSU), which are run with the Waqf board assistance.”

JKSA national president, Umer  Jawmal, says that the demands, like the religion-based criteria for admissions in educational institutions, would only “weaken the secular ethos of the country.” 

“The constitutional and secular ethos doesn’t allow discrimination against the people based on their religious affiliation,” Jawmal says.

As the standoff continues, some demand SMVDIME be declared a minority institution for Hindu-only admissions. Manyal says they instead urged the UT government to order student transfers to other medical colleges.